Chloroethylene-based resins as a representative example of polychloroethylene-based resins are used in a variety of fields since they are cheap and have excellent quality balance.
Chloroethylene-based resins are largely classified into paste resins and straight resins. Paste resins are prepared through emulsion polymerization wherein monomers, water, a surfactant, and the like are homogenized using a homogenization device, and then moved to a polymerization device for polymerization. The polymerized paste resins are used in wallpaper, linoleum, or the like. Straight resins are prepared through suspension polymerization. The straight resins are classified into soft and hard products according to use thereof. General soft products are used in wire clothing, wrap films, sheets, and the like using large amounts of plasticizer. The hard products are used in a variety of fields such as pipes, films, window frames, and the like by adding a variety of additives such as impact modifiers, thermal stabilizers, processing aids, pigments, inorganic filler, and the like.
Chloroethylene-based resins exhibit weak thermal resistance, impact resistance, and mechanical strength. To supplement such problems, thermal stabilizers, impact modifiers, inorganic materials, or the like are added thereto, and, recently, technologies for preparing nanoscale composites using various inorganic materials are being developed.
The nanoscale composites (hereinafter, nanocomposites) are composed of two or more structure or material types, and are materials having nanoscale phase sizes (10−9 m). In particular, polymer nanocomposites have transparency, mechanical strength such as tensile strength, and the like dramatically improved by exfoliating and dispersing nanoclave of 1 nm to 500 nm over a polymer material. In addition, polymer nanocomposites may have flexibility and machinability, which are properties of the polymer, and mechanical strength, thermal resistance, and the like, which are properties of nanoclays, at the same time, and as such, receive great attention.
However, nanocomposites can satisfy required properties when a nanomaterial is evenly dispersed over a polymer. In the cases of chloroethylene-based resins, inorganic nanomaterials are not uniformly dispersed and thus it is difficult to prepared nanocomposites, whereby, in most cases, chloroethylene-based inorganic composites are prepared by mechanically mixing general inorganic materials.